UCLA at BYU: A Rivalry In the Making?

The first two weeks of college football are now behind us, and many exciting matchups are scheduled for the third. There are several games between ranked teams, including Kansas at South Florida, Wisconsin at Fresno State, and, more notably, Ohio State visiting USC at the Coliseum.

These games should provide more than a weekend's worth of viewing excitement, but a fierce rivalry is brewing in the shadows. Saturday afternoon will mark the third meeting between the UCLA Bruins and the BYU Cougars since the beginning of the 2007 season.

It began with BYU falling by 10 to No. 13 UCLA in a regular season game at the Rose Bowl, 27-17. The Bruins looked to be in position to contend for a BCS bid, but suffered a 38-point slaughter at Utah just a week later.

The Bruins began to fishtail as they lost to previously winless Notre Dame at home. Even with victories over Cal and Oregon (a 16-0 shutout), both ranked conference opponents, they could not make a BCS bowl.

However, the Bruins did manage to make it to the Las Vegas Bowl. Their opponent: those same Brigham Young Cougars. The loss earlier in the season must have left a sour taste in the Cougars' mouths, as they completed a nine-game winning streak to finish the season with a 27-21 victory. BYU looked poised and played with tremendous confidence.

The Cougars were up by a single point when UCLA kicker Kai Forbath lined up for a 28-yard field goal with three seconds left in the game.

Surely the Bruins would make a simple field goal to win the game. The kick went up and was deflected by BYU lineman Eathyn Manumaleuna. He got the very tips of his fingers on the ball, and it was still headed for the uprights. An awkwardly spinning ball fell just short.

The final score was 17-16, extending the BYU winning streak to 10 games and forcing UCLA into a losing season (6-7).

Much has happened since then. UCLA has a new head coach in Rick Neuheisel, who defeated then-No. 18 Tennessee in overtime to make his debut. Though quarterback Kevin Craft threw four picks in the first half, he regrouped and had a sensational second half. Tennessee missed four field goals; although only three counted toward the difference, that certainly helped UCLA pull off the upset.

Like UCLA, Brigham Young is undefeated in the early 2008 season. Last week, the Cougars extended their winning streak to 12 games, currently the longest such streak in all of college football. They did it by stopping a potentially game-tying drive by Jake Locker and the Washington Huskies offense. Jan Jorgensen blocked the PAT attempt and the Cougars squeaked away with a one-point victory. This marked the second time in three games that BYU blocked a kick to win by a single point.

As of right now, BYU is ranked 18th on the AP poll and 15th on the coaches' poll. UCLA sits just outside of the top 25 in both polls (26th in the AP and 27th in the coaches'). Can the Bruins football squad match East Carolina and begin the season by beating two ranked teams? Or will the Cougars make it 13 straight wins?